The Ideal Qualities of a Leader Essay

This inquiry is set out to define the components that make up an effective leader, whilst taking

In today’s society, there are some people who possesses the qualities of outstanding leadership. Also, in today’s society, there are some people who keep qualities of a poor leader. A good leader is someone who reads and understands their own emotions and recognize the impact on themselves and others. Another thing great leaders do is think and act with optimism, by looking at the positives and not so much on the negatives. Another great strength a good leader has is that he or she knows the strengths and limits of the certain people on their team (Hewertson). Furthermore, a great leader leads by example, set achievable goals, assigns tasks within someone’s strengths, gets the right people on board,

Leadership is a very broad topic; I never knew just how many different traits and skills that it takes to become an effective leader. Some of which I was familiar with, and others that I was not aware of, but now from taking this course, they all seem to be necessary for the role of leadership. The attached paper, will explain of some of the important theories and concepts that I thought were most important to be able to become and effective leader.

Characteristics of a Successful Leader An effective leader has certain/basic yet important characteristic. The character of a leader is important in order to show how effective they are. A good leader sets the bar high and believes in excellence, motivation, and to be dedicated. In order to lead a good leader must have these qualities/ characteristics.

Although the terms “management” and “leadership” are often confused as in meaning the same there is a distinction between the words. The distinction between the words is that people manage things and lead people (Collins, 2017).

One way to establish the difference between management and leadership is the fact that leadership is simply one of the many things that a manager should have. In fact, this should be one of the priorities of a manager. But aside from this, a manager also needs to be highly knowledgeable in administrative tasks, because this also comprises a huge part of their job. Specifically, a manager has four major functions to do: Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. All these functions have been proven to be essential in any kind of management process, and serve as the main foundation of all organizations (Bateman & Snell, 2009).

(2016). p.33). There are many traits that a leader must have to be able to be successful. Three that come to mind are trustworthy or honest, motivated, and knowledgeable. Ever leader needs to be honest and have the trust of those who are following them. This is essential for any plan or idea to be carried out steadily. Also, open communication cannot happen if one does not trust their leader. Next, a leader must be motivated and have energy. If a leader is not motivated, those who are following them are also not going to be motivated either. Someone has to be able to push others to keep up the hard work to get to where they need to be. Lastly, a leader needs to be knowledgeable. At work, often when faced with something that I do not know the answer to, I go to my charge nurse who is very knowledgeable on almost all situations that may arise. If lacking any vital knowledge, staff under that leader will not have anyone to go to in times of need. This leads to the follower being lost and not knowing what the next step is in their situation. All of these traits are what I like to see in a leader in my work

There has been debate about the difference between leadership and management. With some believing there is no distinction, while others that they should be separated in two defined roles.

Management and leadership are viewed as two different perspectives in the business environment. As described by Dr. Warren Bennis ‘Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who do the right thing’, this means that managers do things by the set rules and follow company policy, while leaders follow their own intuition, which may in turn be of more benefit to the company.

Leadership and management are two terms which are different and should not be confused with one another. The difference in these terms is based upon their motivation, personal history, how they think and act, their orientation toward goals, work, human relationships and themselves, and their views of the world (Grossman & Valiga, 2009, p.5). In leadership, their vision and goals come from a personal interest and passion in which may not be within the goals of the organization. In management, their vision and is from within the organization and not from their personal interest or

Leadership is, and always has been, a vital aspect of social and economic constructs. It is essential to the survival of societies, industries, organizations, and virtually any group of individuals that come together for a common purpose. However, leadership is difficult to define in a single, definitive sense. As such, theories of leadership, what constitutes a great leader, and how leaders are made have evolved constantly throughout history, and still continue to change today in hopes of improving upon our understanding of leadership, its importance, and how it can be most effective in modern organizational cultures.

As a growing debate, the question at hand is whether great leaders are born with specific leadership traits, or if one can be taught certain traits over time. According to (Wikipedia.com) the approach of listing leadership qualities, often termed "trait theory of leadership", assumes certain traits or characteristics will tend to lead to effective leadership. I believe that leadership traits such as honest, competent, initiative, inspiring, hardworking, intelligent, and the ability to lead the masses, are some of the leadership traits one should possess. Within this paper, I will examine the overall concept of leadership traits, while observing the traits that were, or can be associated with successful leaders.

For centuries leaders have been analyzed in order to determine what the traits and characteristics of a successful leader are. Leadership, as defined by Koontz and Weihrich (2008) is “the art or a process of influencing people so that they will strive willingly and enthusiastically toward the achievement of group goals” (p. 311). Leadership plays an important role in employee’s participation, creativity, recruitment to an organization, their commitment to the organization, and productivity levels. Over the years, there have been a number of theories surrounding leadership such as the “Great Man” theory, which, according to Riaz and Haider (2010), “assumes that leaders are born and have innate qualities, therefore, leaders

The concepts of leadership and management are often viewed in different ways with different theories and schools of thought regarding the meaning of these terms (Gold, Thorpe and Mumford, 2010). Management and leadership can be defined individually and encompass different roles and attributes, however, both management and

For decade’s individuals, companies, and organizations have spent an unprecedented amount of money on researching, molding, modeling and working to define what a leader is and what characteristics make successful leaders. Despite all the research, there is not a quick answer or even full agreement as to what makes an individual an effective leader. The definition of a leader is “someone who can influence others and who has managerial authority.” (Robbins, Decenzo, Coulter, 2015. P.370)